Chapter 2421: Chapter 2485: Power of Xuanwu
Drawing closer, Li Yifei dashed forward in an instant, and the countless steel needles just barely changed direction, pursuing him. Li Yifei grinned smugly, twisted his body and changed direction again. For someone like Li Yifei, who had played dodge games before, if these steel needles were only this capable, then their threat would be much less.
The Phoenix knew she couldn’t achieve a very good effect when she shot out the steel needles, so when Li Yifei turned and charged at her, a mocking smile appeared on her face. Her figure flickered as she retreated, tapping a few times in front of her. Suddenly, Li Yifei saw a flame long sword appear as if out of nowhere, hurtling toward him.
It turned out she was also a skilled swordsman. Li Yifei’s heart tensed, with a swarm of steel needles pursuing from behind and a flame long sword emerging in front of him. He abruptly halted, whipped the Mohist War Blade around forcefully, and a clang resonated as over twenty steel needles were swept to the ground. Simultaneously, the flame long sword advanced aggressively, but Li Yifei paid it no heed. With a flick of his blade, he slashed out four times, chopping down more than half of the steel needles.
The long sword had already thrust forward, aiming directly at Li Yifei’s back. The Phoenix controlling the flying sword had a flicker of surprise in her eyes, somewhat astonished that he dared to confront her flying sword head-on.
Hmph, since you dare to confront it head-on, let’s see how you handle it. The Phoenix thought to herself and urged the flying sword to stab toward Li Yifei. The sword tip was already before him, yet the anticipated scene of the sword piercing into or through Li Yifei’s body did not appear. On the contrary, the Phoenix felt her flying sword encounter several layers of obstruction, and by the time it penetrated these, its power was almost spent, forcing her to withdraw it.
During this time, Li Yifei took the opportunity to slash down all the steel needles pursuing him from behind with the Mohist War Blade. He had taken a risk, as if the True Qi Armor hadn’t withstood the opponent’s flying sword, he would have been in trouble.
Fortunately, the True Qi Armor couldn’t block the steel needles but could withstand the flying sword. The steel needles scattered across the ground, though not severed by the Mohist War Blade, some were bent. The cloth on Li Yifei’s back was burned away, revealing his skin.
This puzzled the Phoenix, who had retracted her flying sword, and she asked, "You clearly didn’t wear any treasure armor..."
"That’s not something you need to know!" Li Yifei flicked the Mohist War Blade and continued, "You’ve been slashing at me for quite a while, now it’s my turn."
With that, Li Yifei tapped his toes to the ground and charged at the Phoenix. The Mohist War Blade swung like the wind, releasing blade energy.
The Phoenix put away her underestimation, knowing Li Yifei was powerful. However, being the Divine Beast Phoenix of the Noah’s Ark Organization, she regarded herself as stronger. Inviting Xuanwu over was out of concern that she might lose if the Saintess intervened, making it a two-on-one.
On the other side, the Saintess and Xuanwu Tangtortoise were fiercely battling, with the Saintess’s Holy Technique effectively restraining Xuanwu Tangtortoise. However, Xuanwu’s defense was astonishing, resisting not only immensely but also having a strong resistance to the Saintess’s Holy Technique. Despite his absurd chatter, he truly possessed considerable strength, blocking a series of the Saintess’s attacks.
"Hehe, Saintess, if those are all your moves, you cannot take me down!" Xuanwu Tangtortoise deployed his defense, his skin darkening nearly to pure black, and bared a white-toothed grin, appearing quite intimidating.
The Saintess maintained a poker face, focused, her staff tracing in the air. Half a minute passed, and she loudly declared, "Come forth, war beast."
A three-headed dog appeared once again. Upon its emergence, the previously playful Xuanwu Tangtortoise finally changed expression, retreating a few steps as he watched the deathly aura-emitting three-headed dog, feeling a bit anxious, asking, "You can actually summon such a thing!"
The Saintess’s face turned slightly pale, "I have many Holy Techniques; you can experience them slowly."
"Haha, it looks intimidating, but who knows its true capability? Thinking that this can defeat me is overly naive, especially since a Saintess summoning such a malevolent beast raises questions about which of us is truly evil." Xuanwu Tangtortoise mocked.
The Saintess ignored his taunts, swinging her staff as the summoned three-headed dog charged at Xuanwu Tangtortoise. She continued her chanting, seemingly still summoning, while her internal power rapidly drained into the staff.
Li Yifei saw the Saintess summon the three-headed dog and realized she was going all out, though unaware she was poised for additional summoning. If so, he would have surely stopped her. The second creature the Saintess summoned was a quadruped with a horn on its forehead, bathed in Holy Light as it emerged from the void, appearing remarkably holy in stark contrast to the previous three-headed dog.
"I told you, I have many Holy Techniques, so why don’t you try a few!" The Saintess, almost depleted of strength, commanded her summoned beasts to besiege Xuanwu Tangtortoise.
Li Yifei felt the arrival of two powerful auras, glanced back, and was slightly surprised in his heart. He thought the Saintess actually summoned two entities. Although these two were just projections and not genuine, they were still quite exceptional with great combat strength. Just...could the Saintess handle it? Forcing the Phoenix back, Li Yifei retreated a few steps, looked at the Saintess and asked, "Yanzi, how are you?"
"Don’t forget the wager, this turtle is about to give up!" the Saintess replied.
Li Yifei felt slightly reassured, nodded, and said, "Alright!"
In battles between high-level combatants, defeating the opponent is already very difficult, let alone defeating and killing the enemy. Speaking of the opponent alone, the Phoenix before him might be the most formidable enemy Li Yifei had ever encountered, even stronger than people like Murong Yuanqing. Of course, this was also because Li Yifei hadn’t experienced a life-and-death battle with Murong Yuanqing, thus couldn’t fully comprehend the true strength of those senior warriors.
The Phoenix before him was tough and troublesome. Although Li Yifei had dealt with the needle problem, he tried several attack methods in a short period, all failing without exception. The Phoenix’s sword technique was excellent; the long sword could fly out to attack. In terms of swordsmanship alone, the Phoenix might not be inferior to Elder Qingqiu, the Sword God.
"Eat my blade!" Li Yifei shouted fiercely, power shifting, swinging a blade directly at the opponent’s Flame Long Sword. It knocked away countless flames, and Li Yifei felt a massive force feed back from the blade’s body. His tiger mouth was feeling a bit swollen and painful, but the Phoenix was also not faring well, having been struck by Li Yifei’s full-force blow.
Both retreated a few steps to create some distance. The Phoenix’s expression was somewhat grave; Li Yifei seemed to become fiercer as the fight went on, whereas she had no additional reinforcements. As previously mentioned, the Noah’s Ark Organization had positions for the Four Sacred Beasts, but these four were almost never seen, very mysterious, and considered the Captain’s trump card in critical moments. Thus, dispatching two to intercept Li Yifei was already exceptional. As for ordinary experts, Noah’s Ark had some, but not so many that they could casually sacrifice without concern; these were stronger than cannon fodder but not overly powerful.
Among the remaining eight of the Twelve Holy Beasts, four came this time, but unfortunately, they were too far from here to arrive immediately. So, as of now, only the two of them were here; the others either dead or unable to arrive.
Li Yifei was indeed formidable to such extent? Phoenix felt some disbelief, only to see Li Yifei charging over again. He seemed tireless, his blade techniques fierce and his moves relentless; some were very domineering, some crafty, and others extremely destructive.
At this moment, Li Yifei was thinking less; he wasn’t anxious or impatient. As his attacks unfolded, he became more adaptable to this combat, using the moves he had learned and accumulated, being quite versatile. Conversely, the aggressive Phoenix at the start now seemed a bit constrained and overthinking.
Li Yifei suddenly charged forward, getting in front of the Phoenix, the Mohist War Blade resembling a black whirlwind, swooping down with unmatched bravery. Phoenix held the Flame Sword to block, but her body was knocked back several steps by Li Yifei’s blade. And there was more; Li Yifei immediately followed up, with one move falling and another rising, his blows continuous.
On the other side, Xuanwu Tangtortoise was coping very poorly with the two summoned beasts. His defense was certainly strong, yet it excelled in physical resistance, not against magic attacks. Tough-skinned and resistant, but ineffective against magical attacks, among the two summoned beasts, one leaned toward physical assaults while the other magic; the former was manageable, but the latter became problematic for him. So, after taking a few hits, Xuanwu Tangtortoise realized something was wrong.
These two summoned beasts were not the key; the instigator, the Saintess, was essential. Thus, after dodging, he suddenly bypassed the two summoned beasts and charged towards the Saintess.
The Saintess panicked; she was currently quite weak, after summoning two summoned beasts in one breath, each stronger than the last. That Xuanwu Tangtortoise had guessed it, bypassed the summoned beasts, seeking trouble with her.
"You’re too spoiled!" Already attentive, Li Yifei charged out from the side, instantly striking three times with the Mohist War Blade, not only stopping Xuanwu Tangtortoise, but also directly hitting him with one strike. The Mohist War Blade clashed with Tangtortoise’s body, causing a bang as Li Yifei’s Mohist War Blade was deflected.
Li Yifei’s tiger mouth cracked; under continuous rebound, he inevitably sustained injuries.
Tangtortoise grimaced, shooting a venomous gaze at Li Yifei. The Mohist War Blade had directly struck his back; this blade was too domineering, even with his remarkable defense, being struck with one blade was enough to make him gasp, nearly collapsing. Staring at Li Yifei, he said, "Golden Eagle, you dare injure me!"
"Oh, you got hurt? I thought nothing happened to you," Li Yifei said indifferently.
Because Li Yifei impeded Xuanwu Tangtortoise, the Phoenix got a moment to breathe; otherwise, under Li Yifei’s continuous high-speed attack, she would inevitably have panicked. If a blunder occurred, caught by Li Yifei, it could be fatal.
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